Poster #116 - The Relation Between Child Age at Child Care Entry and Parental Separation Anxiety

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Earlier studies found that transitions into center-based child care settings can induce stress in children (e.g., Albers et al., 2016; Bernard et al., 2015), perhaps especially when children are relatively young (e.g., Bradley & Lowe Vandell, 2007). Parents may also be affected by early child care entry (e.g., Kaitz, 2007), eliciting parental separation anxiety, which can be defined as “feelings of worry, sadness or guilt during short-term separations from the child” (Hock & Schirtzinger, 1992, p. 93). These and other potential predictors of parental separation anxiety however have not been studied yet, while higher parental separation anxiety can be disadvantageous for both parental and child well-being and functioning (e.g., Cooklin et al., 2013; Peleg et al., 2006; Swartz et al., 2016). The current study therefore aims to examine the relation between child age at child care entry and general parental separation anxiety, and possible moderators such as child temperament, child gender, presence of siblings, and child hours at child care, while controlling for parental educational level and the number of months the child was attending the child care center. In total, 694 Dutch parents (90.8% mothers) with one or more child(ren) between 0 and 4 years old retrospectively filled out an online questionnaire after the first national 2-month child care closure as a consequence of the Corona Disease 2019. For this specific study, we will use the answers to the questions regarding several demographic variables (child age at first child care entry, child gender, presence of siblings, and child hours at child care) and parents’ answers to the Maternal Separation Anxiety Scale (Hock et al., 1989) to measure general parental separation anxiety and the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (Putnam et al., 2006), the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (Putnam et al., 2006) or the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire (Putnam & Rothbart, 2006) to measure child temperament. We hypothesize a negative relation between child age at first child care entry and general parental separation anxiety: the younger the child at child care entry, the more separation anxiety the parent experiences. Since research on this topic is scarce, we will exploratory study the potential moderating role of child temperament, child gender, the presence of siblings, and child hours at child care on this hypothesized relation. Data will be analyzed by performing hierarchical multiple regression analyses with interaction terms. The results of the current study can give impetus to the study of predictors of parental separation anxiety, and may yield clues to child care professionals regarding which children and parents might be in need of some extra support when entering center-based child care settings.

Authors

• Sanne Mathilde de Vet, Partou
  Presenting Author

• Mirjam Gevers Deynoot-Schaub, Partou Child Care

• Harriet Vermeer